Of Gods and Women, Part One
by Sithicus
Summary: Perhaps my summaries should be more captivating... But I'm no good at summarizing anything. This is a story centering around an OC of mine entering the Xenaverse; it's going to be highly intricate so consider this fair warning... (Now Completed)
1. Chapter 1 Introducing Alain

**Author's Notes:** This is it; or should I say... This is the very beginning; I have written a very large tale that encompasses a great deal and have dubbed it Chrysalis. The story is what I consider to be my ultimate masterpiece, it spans not only through the Xenaverse, but into such favorites of mine as Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a small smattering of others. And here it is; the very first chapter of the very first section... I have posted a few of the later sections up in the Marvel area of the Comics section here at but if you haven't read those already you really shouldn't... It'll spoil what happens in this story.  
My tale is quite grandiose; and some readers may not enjoy all of it, let alone any of it perhaps... Unfortunately I can't post the ultimate conclusion of this grand tale because it's completely original as opposed to the rest of the "Crossovers" involved in the story from beginning to near conclusion. But that is not so bad; if you enjoy the tale a great deal and have an interest in reading the conclusion if you go through all the other sections of course... Then by all means let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I do suppose I've said quite enough about my ultimate work; I have spent two full years working on the rough draft/final draftof this piece de resistance, so kindly read and review to your hearts content... **Disclaimer:** I make no claims to ownership of any of the characters from Xena: Warrior Princess or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. (In a sense this is a grand crossover of both shows and my OC, but I put it in the Xena section because that's the title I'm using.)  
Alain Desrochers and Jennifer McMahon are characters of my own creation; they belong to no one else, so please no thievery... Ah yes one final note: This story does not take place during any one particular episode of the series; it's sort of an in-betweener set during Season Twos' Here She Comes...Miss Amphipolis and Destiny. Well that's all I have to say now please RR and let me know what you think...

Prologue

I hung up the phone in a rage; my emotions were being sorely tested apparently. I had just phoned Jennifer McMahon in an attempt at getting in touch with one of my old high school friends; more specifically I had every intention of phoning up more to invite them over to my house. I wanted to share some of what was going on in my life, particularly a certain story I'd written, I wanted their opinions on it.  
Unfortunately due to her response I opted not to phone any more, why bother going through that torment again? I stormed into my tiny little bedroom; well it wasn't that tiny, just looked that way because of the large assortment of films I own and the crowded nature of the room in general. Still it was one of the smaller rooms in the house, gently climbing onto the bed so as not to wind up breaking it as I had my previous bed due to my constant flopping onto the mattress I reached over for the remote and flipped on the television.

"She wouldn't want to visit me even if she was paid three million dollars." I grumbled. "Pah, with friends like that who needs enemies?" I recited flipping through my usual channels. Nothing good was on, it was Sunday and as usual the television stations chose not to show any stimulating programs.  
Switching the offending appliance off; I flipped over onto my right side and reached for one of the many books I still hadn't gotten around to reading yet… But a sudden chill ran down my spine and I glanced over my shoulder wondering if I'd left the window open. Not a smart move considering this September was much colder than usual, instead much to my surprise; I found a small hole in my wall.  
Right before my eyes the hole tore itself open wider becoming something I couldn't begin to describe; it appeared to be a swirling vortex, for lack of a better term, and it stole my breath away with its' beauty for it was magnificent to behold. A rich auburn in color with blue intermixed along side silver, gold and a deep obsidian that looked like it belonged to a bottomless pit. Before I could so much as utter a cry the slight wind became a colossal funnel pulling at me with an irresistible force, I tried to scream perhaps in terror, perhaps in sheer surprise, but my cry was swallowed up by the vortex just as I was, soon my room was empty and I… Well I was off on the wildest ride of my life…

In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a world in turmoil cried out for a hero… She was Xena a mighty princess forged in the heart of battle…

The power…

The passion…

The danger…

Xena: Warrior Princess  
Of Gods and Women, Part One

The land was rich in its youth, there was no pollutants, the air was cleaner, the life flourished. The race of man were ruled by their beliefs, ancient gods petty and cruel by nature amused themselves by plaguing mankind with suffering. It is here in this rich and wondrous land that our true tale has its' beginning, here where the life of one man began its' journey towards a new and exciting destiny.

The two women whirled to face the giant vortex that burst open behind them on the road; it pulsated faster and faster, with each passing moment, until the two were forced to look away. A cry escaped from it before a man flew out and slammed into the woman on horseback with enough momentum to knock her to the ground hitting his head on her armor in the process and losing all consciousness.  
She flipped back up to her feet and pulled the sword resting in the scabbard on her back free, leveling it at his neck even as the vortex closed behind the three of them. Her companion on foot leveled a staff on the man and both shared a look as they realized he would be unable to answer any of their questions just yet.

"What now?" The horseback rider asked.

"We wait for him to regain consciousness and then question him I guess." Her companion replied.

"Just what I was thinking actually, still we'd better find some cover no telling what else might happen." The rider stated flipping her sword around and placing it back in the sheath before bending down to heft the unconscious man. "He's heavy, give me a hand." She exclaimed with a grunt. Her companion nodded, placed her quarterstaff down and moved around to heft the man from his legs.

"This one could use a long time working out." She grunted as the two moved off the side of the road and towards a conveniently placed nearby cave.

I regained consciousness with a start; my last memories were jumbled, incoherent. I examined my surroundings, big mistake my glasses weren't on; fumbling around for a few moments in the almost complete darkness of my surroundings I managed to locate the familiar oval frames.  
Something stirred nearby, I couldn't tell what because a fire had leapt into being blinding me, the next thing I knew a very odd sensation met me just beneath my chin. Blinking away the last tears I found myself in a cavern of some kind, a tall woman with dark black hair and wearing an outfit composed mostly of leather and armor was holding a very real sword to my throat. A second slightly shorter dirty blonde haired woman in a green, halter top, for lack of a better term and a short brownish skirt…or was it beige? Climbed to her feet and held a quarterstaff defensively, she eyed me and the other woman first.

"Who are you and why did you attack me?" The sword wielder demanded, my mind reeled I couldn't even begin to comprehend what this woman had said to me it was like she spoke an alien tongue.

"What?" I asked in my own alien tongue; both women eyed me warily and slightly fearful. "Speak English will you." I continued as I rubbed at my head and winced when I felt the slight bump near the back of my head. The woman with the sword pressed the blade in a little deeper causing my pulse to quicken in fear and looked at her companion for answers; she was obviously deep in thought.

"He came through that weird portal remember, maybe he's from some other plane of existence and doesn't understand our language." She mused, I still couldn't understand her, but I wasn't really paying much attention to her or her words considering her friends' sword was still pressed up against me.

"Terrific; I can't kill him if he arrived here by accident and didn't mean to attack me, but I can't find that out because he doesn't speak our language." The sword wielder grumbled lowering her sword blade. I was completely lost as I couldn't understand a word these two women were speaking and now realized I couldn't remember a damn thing except what had happened before I woke up in this cave. That beauteous portal must have brought me here, but where was here and for that matter who was I?  
I tentatively climbed to my feet; both women raised their weapons unaware of my intentions they were cautious. I at least knew how to handle this without words; after all I'd seen it done before, somewhere… Spreading my arms out wide hands facing palm forward to show I meant no harm and had no weapons I broke into a smile.

"He seems harmless enough." The sword wielder admitted sheathing it at last. "But how can we question him if he doesn't understand a word we're saying?" She asked of her companion.

"Perhaps I can teach him, I mean sure he wouldn't understand what I was trying to do at first. But I think he could catch on." She replied moving closer to me and lowering her weapon. She raised one hand and waved hello, for lack of anything better to do I repeated; then she pointed at herself, more importantly her throat and then at my own throat.

"Great either their vampires and are going to suck my blood or she's trying to tell me she wants me to neck her." I muttered. "Or a thousand other possible things." I lamented crossing my arms in front of my chest and looking even more confused than before.

"Can you repeat what I'm saying?" She asked.

"Gabrielle." Her companion reminded.

"Oh right, heh, heh." Gabrielle sighed and looked around for other possibilities, her eyes fell on a scroll and pen and smiled; she moved over to the saddlebags and took up the writing implements and began to jot down the alphabet. I scratched my head; if I couldn't understand her spoken language what made her think I'd understand her… _Hey that first symbol looked familiar wasn't it the Greek letter known as Alpha?_

"Oh she's trying to teach me her language, well it's a good thing I at least recognize that, but how?" I wondered as I managed to place names for the other letters. Beta, Gamma, Epsilon and… Well I didn't know the rest of the names except Omega, but at least I knew that she was writing down her alphabet.  
"This could take a while." I sighed in frustration as I moved to stand beside the woman. I pointed at the parchment and smiled then waited hoping she'd understand I was eager to begin the lesson.

"Alpha, this is Alpha." Gabrielle said slowly hoping this man would catch on.

"A…" I tried to pronounce it as she had, but couldn't quite get the tone correct. "God I hate learning other languages." I muttered my frustration clearly showing in my face judging by her pitying look.

"Don't worry, you'll get it. Come on try again. Alpha." She repeated the last word three more times and I struggled to grasp it, I could learn nothing if I couldn't speak their language.

"Aphja." I finally managed to get out, Gabrielle and her friend shared a look before they both burst out laughing, I grumbled underneath my breath and grabbed the parchment staring at it, willing my brain to grasp the pronunciation. "Alpha!" I screamed in perfect mimicry of the tone.

"I think we hurt his feelings." Gabrielle mused with pursed lips.

"Hey it got him to say Alpha." Her friend indicated with a wave of her hand wishing Gabrielle to continue. Gabrielle smiled at me and I smiled back, I'd gotten it, she sat down on the cave floor and indicated that I should join her. I smiled again and tentatively sat beside her.

"Now we'll try Beta, can you say Beta?" Gabrielle asked and repeated the word slower this time. I scrunched up my forehead in concentration and attempted to mimic the second letter, it came a little easier than the first.

Watching from his personal sanctuary; Ares god of war chuckled at this ridiculous display of teaching, he understood every word the man had spoken being a god he possessed intricate knowledge of many things.

"You aren't going to question him?" A voice asked from the abyss, it was Hera his mother.

"Of course not, let him learn their language first. Besides mother he is with Xena for a purpose, which will be made all too clear in a few more days time." Ares responded; Hera wondered just exactly how that could be possible, but chose to allow her son his time.

"I just hope you know what you're doing, this one has a master of his own and I want to know if he's been sent to eliminate us." Hera stated her tone indicative of extreme anger and a hint of fear.

"This... Obese; oddly dressed man pose a threat to us?" Ares asked with a chuckle. "Hardly, no, he's here for something else, something important to his master… Still I'll keep an eye on him." He stated crossing his arms and laughing aloud at this mans horrible pronunciation of Epsilon.

To Be Continued... And yes I am aware I haven't given a very good description of the main character at the moment...Just you wait, you'll get to see what he looks like soon enough.


	2. Chapter 2 Journey's Commencement

**Author's Notes:** I see there's at least one review so far... A pity there aren't any more; ah well, that's never stopped me before when it comes to updating. This entire section Of Gods and Women, Part One is totally comprised of original dialogue and scenes; however it's sequel, which won't be posted until we've reached the end of this one of course, will in fact house genuine scenes and dialogue from the show. Just thought I give you all fair warning; I'm a stickler for continuity when it involves certain things, which is why it's taken me so long to get around to working on part two.

The disclaimer posted on chapter one applies here too; and I certainly hope no one who actually owns the rights to these fine characters comes after me or something; I'm only interested in sharing a wonderful little tale after all, no profit whatsoever. If I could I'd pay them to be in charge of something like the Xena Warrior Princess; or Hercules Legendary Journeys theatrical release, should interest ever be made in creating such a thing after all.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose pushing the glasses up with the motion as I struggled with the next letter, the woman in green and beige was considerably more patient and understanding than her armor clad friend, who had stormed off once the sun rose to find some nourishment I'd imagine.  
The session had lasted well into the early hours and I was extremely exhausted, but also determined to make myself understood. Continuing on down the line I came to the next letter, she helpfully repeated the proper pronunciation and I found myself mimicking her much quicker. Suddenly a very large fish came flying at me from the cave mouth and smacked me in the face knocking my glasses askew, fumbling to keep the fish from touching the dirt covered ground and still fix my glasses I failed to notice the other woman enter hauling a whole bushel of fish.

"That was mean." Gabrielle accused of her friend.

"I was tired of hearing his constant droning, try and express to him that he should give us a hand if he wants to eat." Xena ordered moving back out of the cave for a few moments, when she next returned it was with a large pile of kindling and broken branches for a fire.

"Um, sir, mister, oh just come over here." Gabrielle called motioning me to join her with her finger. I shrugged, rose to my feet and managed to hobble over while still grasping the squirming writhing beast.

"Those other ones' are obviously already dead; she must have just pulled this one out of the stream or lake or whatever to shut me up." I grumbled flopping down beside the friendlier woman and watching closely as she demonstrated how to gut and prepare the offending wildlife. I duplicated her moves slowly, not desiring to mess up the animal or chop off a finger; after about seven minutes I soon found the skill coming naturally to me. It was a lot easier than I though it was, especially when you were cautious about the blade.  
While we worked on the… Whatever type of fish this was, armor clad upstart began to start the fire, we couldn't speak to one another yet, but we could work well together. As long as I was made perfectly clear what to do, soon we were cooking the fish and I was sitting back down with the scroll opting to duplicate the written letters, perhaps I could learn to write before I learned to speak.  
Through this painstakingly long process I managed to at last place names to the two, once I could write enough I managed to string along the right letters to inquire as to their names. Dirty blonde, slightly more attractive and patient woman was called Gabrielle, the brooding dark haired warrior was Xena, and they had been on their way to Athens when I popped up.  
"Athens, that's in Greece, but judging by the way they're dressed, not to mention the fact that they both carry weapons I'd imagine this is sometime… Wait a minute, I'm not from this timeframe, I'm from the twentieth century… Well twenty-first century now." I muttered to myself mulling over the implications of this new discovery. If this was ancient times had I become the first man to travel through time? Or was this some elaborate hallucination, possibly even a dream.  
As I managed to stomach the fish, having never in my life ate anything more than beef, chicken or pork and not really acquiring a taste for such things I managed to write an explanation to my sudden appearance.  
Basically I wrote, that no I had no idea how I had gotten here, yes I had been in some other plane of reality prior to my arrival here, no I had no intentions of fighting Xena. Oh and even managed to explain my odd style of dress as being quite common in my plane of reality, and that the odd looking item I wore on my face was necessary to help me see clearly. Unfortunately I couldn't explain what was wrong with my eyes, I barely managed to figure out how to say that and it wasn't as neat or clear in some spots as I've made it out to be, writing another language you don't understand grammatical wise isn't a walk in the park.

"So now what?" Gabrielle asked her companion. "It's thirty days' travel to Athens and we can't just leave him here. But he doesn't strike me as the physical type."

"Tough, if he wants to learn our language or at least stay out of trouble he'll have to come with us. Besides the long walk will do him good." Xena added sharpening her sword on a stone.

"All right, he can read our language just fine so I'll explain to him." Gabrielle stated taking the pen and parchment back from me, I waited patiently as she wrote out what Xena had just decided. I sighed at the prospect of a thirty day walk over who knows what kind of terrain, but I had little choice in the matter, no other option open to me actually.

"In for a pint in for a pound." I recited. "Or something like that." I added with a shake of my head; my memories were all jumbled up and I couldn't even remember where I was from, I wrote out my acceptance of this decision.

A few days later I sat cross-legged on the side of the road breathing heavily, my obese nature was not accustomed to so much travel and I was very annoyed that I still could not make myself understood verbally. At least Xena and Gabrielle hadn't left me to die; then again death would be preferable. I was hot, smelt badly, my shirt was torn due to constant tree branch scrapings and my feet were scraped raw due to the fact that the vortex hadn't dragged my shoes along for the ride.

"You are hopeless." Xena stated emerging from the trees to my right and reaching for her horses' reins.

"Like it's my fault." I muttered before forcing myself back to my feet. If it was one thing I hated more than extensive exercise it was being mocked for my weight. Gabrielle glanced at me obviously upset with how Xena treated me; but I smiled putting on a brave face, I was determined to ride this out, hey at least I was getting into shape.

"Do you honestly think Salmoneous can help?" She asked Xena hefting her staff from its' resting place.

"I'm hoping he'll be able to find some better clothes for him, besides he wanted me to check out his latest business dealing." Xena replied with the bare hint of a smile as she regarded my torn pants, tattered shirt and calloused feet. I winced as another stone tore at the skin of my foot, but did not cry out, as before, I was growing all too accustomed to it.

"Let's try an actual sentence today." Gabrielle suggested coming up beside me with a cheery smile on her face.

"Let's not." I quipped sorely, my vocal skills were improving, but I had an accent that was so thick it made getting anything more extensive out a chore.

"Come on you'll never be able to talk with us if you act like that." She urged.

"Amazed I am; understand clearly it I can." I managed to get out with extreme difficulty; this elicited a smile from Gabrielle, but also from me for a stray memory had chosen that moment to afford greater clarity. "God I sound like a deranged Yoda." I chuckled speaking English.

"It is remarkable." She admitted. "But I believe you are one of those gifted people who learn quickly." She added trying to make me feel a bit better than I did right that moment.

"I doubt so much…" I trailed off as the strangeness of what I had just said sunk in and stormed off in frustration, anger and embarrassment, not a very good idea mind you, but at the moment I was very emotional as you might well imagine.

"That one has a proud soul." Xena remarked with a sigh. "And they always come with a stubborn streak most often the size of a horse." She added with a wry smile on her lips.

"Interesting." Ares mused. "He has grasped the fundaments of the ancient languages quite swiftly; perhaps his master gave him something to aid him during his transport here." He added stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"I still do not enjoy his presence here." Heras' voice stated from the nether.

"Don't worry mother I do believe he is somewhat similar to dear brother Hercules. A champion of his own reality." Ares hypothesized unaware that he was far closer to the truth than he could have even imagined.

To Be Continued **In the next chapter our hopelessly incomprehensible friend shall not even receive the ability to speak clearly in the ancient tongue; but just wait until you see what's waiting for the trio on the road up ahead. It's big, it's scary and no it ain't a Hydra...**


	3. Chapter 3 Actions and Consequences

**Author's Notes: **I had held off on this in hopes further reviews would appear, how unfortunate that it seems there are none reading this tale. I'll admit it may seem a little unpolished, that's mostly because unlike the rest of this series I typed the rough draft up rather than writing it on paper first... Thus when I re-wrote it into the ultimate final draft things became a tad, unpolished I suppose. (Alas that's what happens when you start writing a story without first person perspective and have to completely re-write it into said perspective in a rather short amount of time.) Still I think I did a remarkable job...

Anyway; the usual disclaimer applies, this chapter may feature some gore, but I do my best to avoid giving really super gory details... I trust there are people enjoying the story; and thanks to Drizz'l for stickin' with me... Please RR folks; and now chapter three.

"Primitive fools and to think I once had a normal life…" I began muttering to myself as I grew farther and farther ahead of the duo. "I think." I added understandably confused. "You'd think… What's that?" I wondered suddenly spotting something lying in the road not far away. I moved forward; not noticing the silence all around me, but I was not versed in the ways of nature and did not know that total silence meant a large predator was in the area. When I drew close enough to make out the hulking figure; I froze instantly and stifled a squeak of fear, for once again greater clarity had been granted to me when it came to the nature of what lay before me.  
Xena and Gabrielle rounded the bend to find me slowly backing away from the beast, Argo; Xenas' horse whinnied in fear and bolted. She made to go after her, but the sound behind her alerted her to the danger I was attempting to retreat from. I was unclear where the information had come from, but I knew this creature was a Griffin instinctively the half lion, half eagle beast that was the natural enemy of the horse and an even deadlier hunter than all save perhaps a dragon or other demonic beast.  
"Why me?" I wondered in that all too tired tone of one who has seen all the hardships he could possibly have seen, but still find one more hardship he hadn't been expecting. The beast awoke with a start and let out a massive roar that shook the very air itself sounding like the blend of the two creatures' cries, part lion, and part eagle.

"Run!" Xena cried.

"Where?" I demanded fear bringing clarity to my pronunciation as well as a tone devoid of the previous accent.

"The trees." She replied before crashing under the foliage to rush around and take the beast in the flank. However I found that I could not move no matter how much I willed my body to obey, it didn't much matter. The beast struck with enhanced reflexes so quickly that I wouldn't have had a chance to run either way. I screamed as a red agony ran down my left arm, I flew through the air and felt weightless for the briefest of instances before crashing into the foliage.  
Gabrielle was left alone on the road; she raised her staff menacingly and prepared to face death as best she could. However the familiar keen of the warrior princess told her help was at hand; Xena leapt from the trees and onto the beasts' back so quickly it could not react fast enough. In a flash she rammed her sword directly into the back of its' head and killed it instantly, Gabrielle rushed off to find me as Xena whistled for her horse and began to hack off the edible parts.

I staggered out of the woods and moaned in pain clutching at the shredded skin of my left arm; the pain was excruciating, but not as bad as the nausea I felt whenever I glanced at the wound. The entire skin of the lower arm had been torn asunder by the beasts' claws, the muscles had been shredded and the veins and arteries had instantly closed off. Though there was still quite a lot of blood; I couldn't feel most of the nerve endings from the elbow down and I could not move my hand in the slightest, starring at the bloodied and disgusting bones that made up my arm I knew I was in serious danger of losing the use of said arm and hand. "Oh god, please tell me we can fix this." I pleaded in a very weak tone though using the women's' native language without any conscious effort.

"What did you say?" Xena demanded her head whipping up in surprise.

"I said…" I froze and looked up in surprise. "What the hell happened; I'm talking your native tongue as if it were my own?" I exclaimed in awe forgetting the extent of my injury.

"I... I don't know." Xena admitted. "We've never encountered anyone quite like you before." She expanded taking this opportunity to examine my arm, a concerned look crossed her eyes and she regarded Gabrielle who was hunched over trying hard not to vomit.

"Perhaps one of the gods." Gabrielle managed to gasp before she could hold it in no longer, rushing to the side of the road so as not to disturb me the sounds of heaving and retching could be heard and I grimaced.

"I don't think anyone can help him… Or should I say would be willing to help him." Xena retorted glaring up at the heavens briefly. Suddenly I screamed, Xena brought her eyes back to my arm and gasped in surprise, the injury was re-knitting. Not entirely mind you, the skin that had managed to remain attached still hung, but the nerves, tendons and muscles were miraculously repairing themselves.

"And I thought it hurt worse when that thing struck me." I gasped through the raw agony; finally the pain subsided and I was left with a much less severe wound, though my entire lower arm was devoid of skin at the moment and what I was now looking at was the stuff you usually weren't supposed to see. At least I could feel my arm once again, use my hand, I wiggled the fingers a little. "Will the skin heal as well?" I wondered.

"Who knows, I'm more concerned as to how that just happened, not to mention how you've suddenly mastered our tongue." Xena admitted holding my arm up to regard the innards.

"Xena we should get moving." Gabrielle urged. "It's another day's journey before we reach the next village and possible room and board." She reminded.

"Yes, of course. Just let me finish gathering the edible parts." Xena requested returning to the gruesome task of carving up the Griffins' body.

"Ok, now I think I'm going to be sick." I murmured stumbling off into the trees to relieve myself.

"Ha, ha." Ares laughed. "That couldn't have gone better."

"You planned that?" Hera demanded in surprise.

"Yes mother, I made certain they would encounter that beast. I wanted to see if this man were hiding some sort of power from us that would be unleashed should he face real danger. As you saw; something healed him, and it was none of us." Ares replied a smug smile on his features.

"Indeed, but was it part of this mans' nature or his own master stepping in." Hera mused before other words piqued her curiosity. "Incidentally just how did that being become so fluent?" She inquired amusement in her tone.

"The Griffins' claw was laced with a serum I invented, when introduced to the blood of any normal being from this universe it makes them completely unintelligible, speaking in arcane tongue. Quite good for getting rid of stumbling blocks in my usual campaigns, however I suspected the effect would be the reverse in this one. Because of my intervention he can speak the native tongue effortlessly." Ares explained showboating for the sake of his ego.

"And why would you want that?" She wondered. "Unless you merely wanted to quit prolonging the inevitable for your own amusement." She added. "Ah, if you wish to have your little games than so shall I." She implied before her presence vanished.

"I have a strong feeling that this is going to get even better." Ares chuckled eagerly anticipating the next little snag this trio of travelers might encounter on the road. "Perhaps a warlord or two." He added pursuing his own little games once more.

Zeus smiled as he watched the young man; ensuring that the other Gods monitoring his presence hadn't detected his helpful little healing trick hadn't been easy. But Zeus was not yet ready to explain just who this man was to his children; or especially Hera, he knew more then he should. But that was because of his particular interest in events beyond the meager reality he held sway over; in point of fact he enjoyed traveling the Omniverse in different guises helping or hindering those who strived to maintain the balance, depending on his mood at the time.  
His good friend Merlyn had spoken in high regard of his daughter on more than one occasion; she would do well to get to know this individual, he may in fact prove quite useful one of these days. Ignoring his thoughts Zeus returned to Olympus; he was met by Athena, which startled him. His daughter smiled coyly; had he done a less than perfect job in rendering his little trick invisible to the other Gods?

"Father; how good to see you again." Athena greeted.

"Athena my dear, what brings you to my door?" Zeus wondered making his way past his daughter to resume his seat upon his throne.

"Nothing in particular; I just thought you'd like to know there is a strange mortal in our realm." She returned; Zeus grinned privately before sobering up.

"Yes I am well aware of his presence; and dear Hera's interest in him." He remarked confidentially. "Perhaps you'd like to keep an eye on them for me; I've got far more pressing concerns to deal with." He added; Athena smiled impishly.

"I shall relish this father." She stated before vanishing; Zeus smiled once more as he conjured a viewing globe for the mortal man, inconceivable that the fate of the entire Omniverse rested in his hands.

To Be Continued **Ah yes; and in the next chapter even more peril will no doubt face our intrepid hero... But just what DOES Zeus know? You'll have to keep reading to find out.**


	4. Chapter 4 Introductions and Fools

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for pointing that little discrepency Agent-G; now I've gone back and replaced chapters one and two with corrections so Gabrielle has the proper hair color... As for what I mentioned in my e-mail; I forgot, that actually takes place in this chapter, stupid me.  
Thanks to you Drizz'l for the review, I'm hoping for more guys; come on this story has to intrigue some people.

The usual disclaimer applies; oh right for all you Herc fans this chapter should be a real thrill, what kind of uber crossover would this be without Hercules and Iolaus?

Four days later after Xena felt I had gotten enough time to recuperate, not to mention get over the experience of having my arm injured and then repaired in such a fashion, she and Gabrielle finally approached me to ask me a few questions.  
We were just leaving another one of those quaint little villages you always hear about, a new group of supplies in hand and temporary replacement clothing donated by a follower of Demeter. They were five sizes too big so we had to alter them creatively, footwear on the other hand was not so easy to find, my foot size was of a unique kind and so far we had been unable to locate anything for me to wear. I didn't mind, toughened them up a little if you asked me, anyway by now I felt much healthier, I didn't look too changed, but the fresh air and long hours of walking seemed to have caused a healing to transpire over me. My lungs felt much better than they had ever felt before and the strain my weight played on my body wasn't as taxing as it once was.

"We've been walking with you for some time since that incident and you haven't even ventured your name." Gabrielle blurted one day as we stopped to get a drink of water.

"That's because my mind is a wreck, I can't remember too much about my life before arriving here." I explained. "The collision with Xena's armor at a hundred miles an hour must have had something to do with it."

"Don't you remember anything?" Xena wondered as usual sharpening her sword with a flat stone.

"I remember bits and pieces… Alumni?" I wondered a funny look crossing my features, Gabrielle and Xena shared a confused look before addressing this new development.

"What about Alumni?" Gabrielle urged moving to sit closer eager for some interesting tale about my strange land I'd imagine.

"Nothing special, for some reason that calls out to me. It must be my name." I replied all previous uncertainties aside.

"Rather odd name isn't it?" Xena quipped twisting her blade in a few practice swings.

"As I'm certain Xena is a very common name." I shot back wryly scratching at the newly growing skin on my left arm.

"Don't do that." Gabrielle chastised rapping me across the wrist with her staff; I winced theatrically and waved my hand as if the wrist stung from the surprisingly gentle blow.

"Yes mother." I stated sarcastically.

"I mean it, it won't heal properly otherwise." She explained for about the trillionth time, I rolled my eyes and took a brief sip of water.

"Any further information you might be able to dredge up?" Xena wondered eager to finish this conversation so we could get back on the road.

"Not really, although…" I trailed off as something niggled at the back of my mind, it wasn't the first time this particular thought tried to break the barrier of the sub-conscious so that I could reveal it. "No, it's not important." I muttered shaking my head to clear it.

"In that case lets' go." She urged rushing to her feet and grasping Argos' reins. Gabrielle sighed before climbing to her feet; I merely shrugged my shoulders and resumed walking alongside the bard.

"Joxer the mighty, roams through the countryside, he never needs a place to hide with Gabby as his sidekick fighting with her little stick. Righting wrongs and singing songs, being mighty all day long. I'm Joxer, Joxer the mighty." Someone was singing as they traveled down the road to Athens. Suddenly a man rushed past this bumbling individual in the mish mash of armor and really ineffective looking helmet, he caught a glimpse of a flowing cloak as he tumbled to the ground. Voices from behind alerted him to the fact that others were pursuing this man, or was it a woman, he hadn't got a good look.

"Stop thief!" A voice cried as a contingent of well armed soldiers in roman armor dashed past the fallen fool.

"A thief huh, maybe I can be of some assistance." The man suggested as he struggled to climb back to his feet, a task made more complicated by the fact that he was trying to draw his sword simultaneously, however the roman legionnaires had already vanished around the bend.

"Hey wait I want to help!" He cried dashing off after the pursuers.

"What a poor excuse for a mortal." Hera muttered as she moved on from her observations more interested to see if someone else was even now rushing down the road to Athens.

**This is the story of a time long ago, a time of myths and legends; when the ancient gods were petty and cruel. And they plagued mankind with suffering, only one man dared to challenge their power…**

"Hercules! Hey Herc!" Iolaus cried as he rushed to join up with his friend who was getting ahead of him. The two were on their way to deal with a rampaging giant near the outskirts of Thrace; and they hadn't gotten very far when some of Heras' minions showed up looking for punishment. After the fight, Hercules had whirled around and rushed off in the opposite direction without any word. "Come on pal what's up, you're not going to leave that giant back there, slaughtering people are you?" Iolaus demanded.

"It will have to wait." Hercules explained. "Those warriors were sent to stop me; not from fighting that giant, but from something far worse."

"Well what was it?" Iolaus wondered stumbling slightly in his effort to catch up.

"There is a god traveling among the mortals, a new god intending to destroy Athens." Hercules explained.

"What? You're just going to trust something one of those jokers told you?" His friend demanded.

"It's not just what he said it was how he said it. I have this feeling Hera knows nothing about this new god." Hercules remarked.

"But how do you know that? This could be another one of Heras traps." Iolaus cautioned.

"I know, but we won't know until we run into this supposed god." Herc stated.

"Did this informant give you a name?" Iolaus asked.

"Alumni." He simply replied.

To Be Continued... **Uh-Oh; what will happen when Hercules meets our intrepid hero? And just how many more plans can Ares and Hera come up with? You'll have to keep reading to find out and I strongly suggest you do that... RR folks; oh, and sorry if you don't like Joxer, but he is a vital element. I also appologize if his song shouldn't be even used yet due to certain continuity thingies, but I just dig that tune so much I just had to use it when introducing him for the first time... Oh yeah, Ten Dinars for the person who can guess the mysterious person in the long cloak's identity.**


	5. Chapter 5 Old Friends and New Friends

**Author's Notes:** Drizz we gotta do somethin' about that patience of yours... Oh and Agent-G; the reason why some parts may seem as if lifted from other chapters is mainly because I type my stories all at once and don't actually break it into chapter sections until I post it up on Some of these small inconsiquential scenes actually don't fit into any other chapters, so they go where I can fit them the best without disrupting the stories flow. I must apologize right now; because this story is sadly almost over, I never realized just how short I'd made this story compared to all the others. However the double length of Part Two should make up for it; and once you start reading that one you'll probably notice a vast difference in the writing styles. (As I said before this is the oldest story I finished for Chrysalis; however I don't see any reason to go back through it and re-write the whole thing, I've just been adding a few things to fix up continuity glitches.)

Anyway; the usual disclaimer definately applies, and I sure hope I get more readers soon, I mean seriously it's a tad disconcerting to have so few people interested in this... So R&R folks and let me know what you think; especialy with how I portray the wonderful character of Salmoneous.

Gabrielle turned around suddenly noting the absence of their newest traveling companion Alumni, he was no longer on the road, and Xena had gone on ahead to make sure there were no more surprises like the Griffin seven days past.

"Now where did he go this time?" She wondered with a tired little sigh. So far on this journey he'd tumbled over a root, crashed into a tree and nearly entered a Hydras' lair. "I'd better find him before he gets into more trouble." She grumbled just before Al leapt out in front of her and hollered threateningly. Gabrielle leapt back and in one fluid motion slammed Al across the head with her quarterstaff. Al tumbled to the ground and grumbled as he reached up to rub his head.

"What were you doing?" She demanded.

"Trying to sneak up on someone, I guess it'd work better if I had a weapon and proper training." I sighed as Gabrielle helped me back to my feet.

"Why would you even want to do that?" She wondered curiously.

"Well I thought that if I was going to travel around in this dangerous world I should learn how to defend myself." I responded with a wry chuckle. "My first self-made lesson didn't go so well." I added eyeing the deceptively agile Gabrielle.

"If you want to learn how to defend yourself I'm sure Xena and I can help, so, no more of these do it yourself attack attempts ok?" She asked with a smile.

"Sure, they're more hazardous to my health anyway." I replied with another chuckle rubbing my head again; Gabrielle and I had seemed to establish some kind of bond, at least she didn't completely ignore me like Xena seemed to do nine times out of ten, which really wasn't a good idea. I mean I could have got a much better deal on that robe she'd gotten me yesterday if she'd only let me do the haggling, oh well live and learn.

Hercules headed past the large imposing city gates and smiled as he caught sight of all the regular things one usually saw in a city as big as Athens. People running to and fro to perform their daily routines, children hurrying after their parents on shopping trips even; unfortunately, a slavers band selling captured slaves to the upper classes.  
Iolaus gasped for breath as he bent over and placed his hands on his knees; exhausted after a very quick run to arrive at Athens in time to stop this rampaging god, when all they had was a name.

"You…" He paused to catch his breath completely before continuing. "You sure this Alumni is some kind of evil god? I mean it was one of Heras' men who told you, this could be another trap." He reminded.

"I know, but we can't take the chance that she's right." Hercules replied spotting a familiar face among the crowd of merchants. "And I see someone who might be able to help." He added moving over to a small fruit stand.

"Oh no." Iolaus moaned as he caught sight of the vendor.

"Trust me, not even the Elysian Fields have apples as tender and juicy as these." The vendor proclaimed attempting to make the sale.

"Than why are they green?" The buyer demanded; a large burly ape of a man who looked worse off than a beggar.

"Ah, because the green signifies how sweet they are. And ah…um, here I'll show you." The seller stated taking a bite of his wares, a funny look passed over his face and he quickly spit the bite out on the ground.

"You lying little goat!" The buyer hollered; reaching out to grab the seller by the throat and throttle him.

"I don't think you want to try that." Hercules suddenly said reaching from the sidelines without warning and grabbing the man's wrist.

"You stay out of this pal; I'm going to teach this lying little thief some manners." The buyer growled breaking free of Hercules' grasp easily. Hercules was a little surprised; this could be the god Alumni… Or it could be that this man was a very strong willed person. In either case he couldn't let him hurt his friend, with a small little sigh he grabbed the man's wrist again and forced him to back away from the stall.

"I don't think you heard me correctly, I suggest you leave this poor fellow alone. It's obvious he got in a bad deal with some apple vendor; and wound up stuck having to sell these sour apples. He's only trying to make a living, I'll see to it that he throws out these apples and leaves town." He volunteered moving the confused man back farther from the sellers' stall.

"You will huh?" The buyer repeated confusedly, Iolaus stifled a laugh at the buffoons' obvious lack of grasping the vernacular. With a gentle shove; Hercules pushed the man on his way, he paused as if to argue the point, but he was still mulling over what Hercules had said and thus chose to continue walking away.

"Oh thank you, thank you Hercules, you know you were only half right. When I bought these apples from the vendor he'd colored them red; after I washed them I found out he'd tricked me…You know that's like the twentieth time you've saved my life. I should commemorate it by offering you a nice big apple." The seller remarked.

"No thank you Salmoneous, you haven't seen anyone odd walking around today have you?" Hercules asked.

"Odd? You mean killer three headed dog odd; or the wide grinning buffoon kind of odd?" Salmoneous asked confused. "Obviously you haven't got a clue what people usually walk around Athens after dark." He added with a sly grin. "You aren't looking for some companions?" He asked cupping his hands over his chest in a suggestive manner.

"Salmoneous." Hercules chastised.

"Sorry I forgot; you're all about virtue and stuff." He admonished waving his hand around to indicate the city's denizens. "To answer your question no, nothing amiss here. Unless you count that odd little fellow chasing after some roman legionnaires trying to help them." He amended, Hercules regarded him with a funny look and Salmoneous shrugged. "You said odd, they managed to shake him though. However I have heard there's a rampaging giant around Thrace, if you're looking to help some desperate people out there's your big chance." He hinted with a wink.

"We know about the giant." Iolaus amended. "We were on our way to deal with him when Hera gave Hercules a tip, so to speak."

"Hera? Helping you?" Salmoneous asked mockingly. "Olympus forbid I suspect it's just another trap."

"That's what I told him." Iolaus pointed out wagging his finger in front of Hercules' face.

"Ok, so maybe I jumped to conclusions too quickly. Still you have to admit it was rather odd that Heras' minion would be so frightened of a man named Alumni; if he were only mortal." He remarked still somewhat apprehensive about leaving Athens and resuming his quest. "Perhaps we could hang around for another day or two, make certain she was wrong and then deal with that giant." He suggested.

"Fine; according to the reports, the giant pretty much sleeps all the time in his cave and only comes out every other week." Iolaus remarked he too was curious to know just what was going on.

Not far away a person in a long flowing cloak of rich dark blue happened to be listening in on the three men's' conversation. This person was quite curious to know what was going on as well and decided that it would be best to stick around too, see if any profit could be made. As the person in question moved back into the crowd; they happened to pass a rather pompous looking man in rich finery moving out of the slavers pit with two very dejected looking women. He was pulling hard on their chains dragging them off no doubt to his bed chambers to test out his new slaves, well he was just going to have to go home empty handed, the person decided. Very swiftly, completely unnoticed by the gluttonous man they deftly picked the locks keeping the women chained up, the shorter one had noticed the strangers' movements and had said nothing. As all three passed a side street both slaves ducked down the street; the shorter of the two pausing only to nod her head in thanks at the stranger. They smiled beneath their hood and continued on their merry way as the cries of the outraged man carried down the street to the local authorities. At the same time Joxer watched this person, it was the same one those Romans had called a thief, maybe there'd be some kind of reward if he caught this guy, girl, whatever.

"Better play it safe though, some warlord might be after him too…" He trailed off getting a little nervous at the prospect of trying to capture this person, the imagined warlord became a giant, fifty feet tall, no, it was a titan, one of the worst of the titans desperate to claim this person to lift some curse. "Or maybe I should ask Hercules for help since he's in town." He amended preparing to join the three men still conversing near the fruit stand. Before he could make a move however; he tripped over a stray pig and wound up flying into the mud on the side of the road. Wiping the gunk from his face he sighed dejectedly. "A bath first, definitely a bath."

To Be Continued; **Just who is the mysterious man Joxer is tailing... **Joxer?Er; right anyway... **What will happen when Hercules and Alumni meet?** **Can Xena truly train Alumni into a lean, mean, fighting machine? When will these questions end? Find out in the next exciting chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6 The Gathering

**Author's Notes:** Well here we are again; another update... And boy; what an update. As for your suggestion Agent-G; well quite frankly I don't want to keep going after Part one is finished mainly because I'd rather put the second part up seperately. (Otherwise I'd post everything up in one single post and we'd have a story that's a good four hundred or so chapters long, give or take.) That's why I'm sticking to the formulaic approach of posting one whole book, as you call it, and then post another seperatley. Some people really don't like to read a story that goes on too long; if each section has a clear cut beginning, middle and end I find it makes things easier.

The usual disclaimer applies folks; I've got no claims to own any of the characters and have no intention of making any, I really don't need to be making more problems for myself. :) Anyway; without further ado I once again implore all who read to R&R and let me know, share it with your friends or people you might know who might enjoy it so they too can let me know what they thought.

Cursing my luck once more I stumbled over a loose stone in the road as I dodged an incoming sword. My reflexes were greatly improved, but this was ridiculous, I wasn't even armed. The telltale scream of Xenas' Chakram whizzed by overhead; connected with my attackers' wrist and knocked the blade from his hand. My anger already beyond the boiling point I grabbed the sword and used my full body weight to return to sender. The stooge tumbled over backwards his own blade protruding from his chest; I caught sight of Xenas' disapproving stare, but didn't have time to justify the kill as another goon charged me.

"Ok its official I hate warlords." I muttered ducking and rolling off the edge of the road into the cover of the underbrush; after a few more went down to Xena's blade the head honcho issued the withdrawal, I scrambled out of the bush scratched, bruised and aching from the exertions I forced upon my body. Gabrielle helped me to my feet steadying me with her arms.

"We're almost there, only a few more days now." She stated encouragingly.

"It wouldn't be so bad if that warlord hadn't started dogging us a few days ago." I admitted with a wince stepping on another sharp stone as I examined the body of the man I'd killed.

"Just what did you think you were doing?" Xena demanded stomping up to the both of us. "I'd disarmed him, you only had to punch him in the face and he would have gone down for the count."

"Well excuse me; sorry if I chose self preservation instead of be nice to killers." I snapped irritation clear in my tone; she stared at me for the longest time looking into my eyes for something, I didn't know what.

"Do you have any remorse for what you just did?" She demanded pulling the blade from the man and whirling it in my face.

"I regret some things sure; I'm not some blood thirsty animal you know. But when you're faced with life or death situations you can never be sure how you're going to act." I replied as calmly and rationally as I could be.

"Xena come on; give him a break he's been through a lot the past nineteen days." Gabrielle insisted forcing Xena to lower the blood stained sword, I slumped my shoulders and wrapped the robe around me trying to stay warm in the suddenly chilled air.

"Would it help if I said I acted on impulse?" I wondered a haunted look coming over me as I took in the man, despite evidence to the contrary this was my first kill. My warrior training had been coming along fine; I was getting a lot better at dodging and weaving around opponents. Not to mention it was working my upper body muscles, walking was all fine and good, but it really didn't do much for anything higher than the buttocks.

"The next time you're in a fight no killing." She ordered tossing the sword aside. "I'm teaching you to defend yourself, not to become another renowned warlord." She added stomping off to find Argo.

"Why couldn't we be going to Rome?" I asked of the heavens. "At least they have well maintained roads." I added as I plucked at a particularly painful stone that had just lodged itself in my foot. "Then again I'd probably look at someone the wrong way; or say something I shouldn't and wind up in the Circus Maximus." I added with a bemused chuckle.

"You?" Gabrielle asked with a funny little smirk playing across her lips. "They couldn't, you'd scare the lions." She quipped.

"Very funny." I grinned pleased with the swiftness in which both our moods had changed. The pounding of horses' hooves alerted us both to Xenas' return, she arrived from around the bend in the path astride Argo, and as she grew closer; slid off of her faithful beasts' back and moved to rejoin us.

"The road is clear the rest of the way to Athens, it's about seven more days journey to the cities gates." She reported accepting the water skin Gabrielle proffered and taking a quick sip. "Let me see your wound." She requested moving closer to me, I was wondering how she could possibly know what was in store for us the rest of the way to Athens. But I obliged her request removing the bandages they'd decided to apply; so as not to alarm anyone and to keep me from scratching.  
Gabrielle stifled a gasp of shared anguish; pity and disgust while Xena gently examined the arm. The wound though no longer as severe was still taking its' sweet time to heal itself completely. Despite the obvious discomfort the sharp breeze and Xenas' prodding had on the tender tissue; I was considerably less vocal at having Xena touch it compared to the last time when she'd first applied the bandages.

"Coming along nicely with no signs of infection." She remarked. "Gabrielle, change the dressing while I gather some more herbs." She commanded moving off the path quickly and vanishing among the foliage.

"Probably more junk to keep me from scratching, oh how it itches." I moaned my fingers inching closer to relieve the aggravation. Gabrielle rapped my wrist once more with her staff and began applying new dressings; I regarded the bodies still littering the road finding it odd to be doing this amongst them.

"You are a strange young man." She remarked glancing up as I continued to watch her tender machinations.

"I see." I whispered the smell of blood making me slightly nauseous. "I do so hate to pry, but why would Xena say we can look forward to no further troubles on the road?" I inquired.

"She must have had a chat with Ares while she fetched Argo." She replied off handedly.

"She talks to the gods?" I blurted wrenching my arm from her grasp and eliciting a sting of pain.

"On occasion, now hold still." She chastised quickly finishing up her work.

"Sorry." I apologized. "Boy I sure hope she's right, I'm tired of getting jostled on this long winding road." I muttered my patience practically non-existent.

"Rest assured there will be quite a lot more jostling young man." Hera whispered as she chuckled at the thought of Hercules fighting this mere mortal under the presumption, thanks to her ministrations, that he was a powerful and dangerous God.

Iolaus sighed as he sat in one of the local taverns listening hard for anyone using the name Alumni, for the past seven days he'd turned up nothing and he knew the marauding giant couldn't wait much longer before more innocents were harmed. Huddled in a dark corner watching Iolaus carefully was the mysterious cloaked man who had overheard their conversation days previously. He too was growing annoyed at the long wait for a person he'd never heard of and hoped fervently today would bear fruit.  
Watching both of them; Joxer sat at the bar nursing a mug of ale and trying to appear non-chalant, he wasn't doing a very good job of it, but he knew something big was going on if Hercules was around and he wanted to help if he could. Suddenly Joxer caught sight of two familiar women and was about to call out to them when he noticed the strange man between them. He appeared to have once worn fine clothing; though now it was a mess and mostly covered up by a few hand me down robes and such no doubt due to a long journey. He wore no footwear as evidenced by the great many scratches and imperfections that marred his feet. He had also once been a very heavyset man and was still slightly obese; however his lower leg muscles, upper legs and thighs which had been vastly underused were now leaner and slightly better developed. His upper torso was not as pear shaped as it had once been, a lot of the stomach fat having been burned off with obvious exertions. A few more weeks of travel with those two and his abdomen, arms, upper torso and even neck and cheeks would most likely become marginally better compared to his current appearance.

During his silent observation of the newcomers mysterious traveling companion Iolaus had moved over to the two women and a jovial conversation had begun, almost instantly after the dark haired woman mentioned the mans name; Iolaus got a sick look on his face and he hastily excused himself. Now was his chance to find out who this guy was and weather or not he was trouble.

"This will be interesting." The other silent observer whispered signaling for another drink.

"So that was Iolaus huh?" I remarked as though I knew of the man. "Strange guy; I wonder why he acted as if he knew my name?" I mused as I lowered my vastly improved bulk down onto a chair across from the women. Suddenly a second man joined the group offering a very enthusiastic hello and I caught the muttered words, oh no, from Xena.

"Hey Xena, Gabrielle it's been ages since we last saw each other." The comically dressed man greeted. "I was trailing a dangerous thief for some Romans when he gave me the slip, so who's your friend?" He asked eyeing me with a funny look on his face.

"Joxer this is Alumni, Alumni, Joxer." Xena introduced.

"Say I heard someone was looking for an Alumni." Joxer muttered plopping right down beside me with his drink. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone in town would ya?" He asked.

"Ah, no." I replied rather put off by the way this man was acting, I had never seen anyone come off as both goofy and serious at the same time before.

"Oh well; it can't be you then." He amended turning to Gabrielle and getting that funny look in his eyes again. "Hi Gabrielle." He slightly cooed, slightly sighed.

"I sure hope this Salmoneous guy can dredge up something decent to wear." I spoke rather loudly before Gabrielle could say anything. "I can't imagine what it'd be like running around with this on much longer; who knows it might fall apart on me or something." I complained making a sour face eliciting Gabrielle to laughter while Xena acquired a small smirk on her own lips. Just as suddenly as he had left Iolaus returned with Hercules in tow; Xena tensed up sensing possible danger as the two marched straight up to their table and Hercules gently tapped Alumni's' shoulder.

I was completely unaware of what was going on behind me until I felt that tap, turning slightly I glanced up at one of the biggest men I'd seen since arriving in this place, and I'm talking muscle wise not fat.

"Are you the one claiming to be Alumni?" He inquired somewhat perplexed.

"Uh yes that is my name." I replied in obvious confusion.

"If that is the case; I must ask that you leave here, return to whatever home you came from and not cause whatever trouble you intended, or I'm afraid I'll be forced to destroy you." He stated as calmly and rationally as he could considering the dire meaning of his words. I was so startled that I found myself moving unsteadily to my feet and attempted to back away seeking cover behind the rising form of Xena. Unfortunately; my movements were slightly lethargic due to the continued exhaustion over the long days of travel and instead I found myself tripping over the leg of the table. Doubly unfortunate for me, because it appeared as though I were lunging at Hercules, unthinking more out of reflex than anything else Hercules lashed out with his hand to defend himself.  
I felt a sharp crack as the palm of Hercules' hand connected with my unprotected chest exuberating enough force to break ribs as evidenced by the sharp cracking; I unleashed a sharp cry of pain as my vision blurred red and I found myself flying through the air. I felt the sharp slam of my back connecting with the taverns far wall with enough momentum to break through the clay and send me crashing to the ground across the street among a group of pedestrians at a fruit stand. The owner of the stand cried out in shaken surprise and dove for cover; thinking I would rise and attack him believing me to be another drunken fool caught up in a tavern brawl no doubt. However I was in no condition to attack anyone, in fact I could swear I heard a woman laughing at my expense as I lost consciousness and saw no more.

To Be Continued... **Uh-Oh; talk about your mistaken identities, whatever is going to happen now that Hercules has inadvertantly damaged our hero? And who is the mysterious thief continuing to watch and seeking profit? Perhaps we'll find out in the next exciting chapter; or at least discover what the big story is surrounding Alain.**


	7. Chapter 7 Gathering Part Deux

**Author's Notes:** A pity; it seems Drizz stopped reviewing even though I've mentioned the updates to him in passing, and it looks like I've only got one solid reader... Perhaps I should really work on good summaries to grab peoples attentions, but then again I never was good at mere summerization; curses very few reviews and nothin' of criticism, which of course would help improve my tale. Ah well; perhaps someone will stumble onto this at a later date and be blown away.

This is where I always put; the usual disclaimer applies, so that the people who own the rights to all these characters don't jump out and sue me or somethin'. Anything italicized is usually Al's inner thoughts; anyway this is a big dialogue heavy scene with emphasis on bringing all the characters together to discuss Hercules' faux pas. Please be kind; R&R, and when you do review try not to get all flammy, because getting burned really chafes the skin.

A cacophony of sound bombarded me; I was unable to distinguish anything at first and then voices filtered in, a heated argument over someone, something that had been done. I believed it was over the most recent events surrounding me, after all my name kept popping up, even if it wasn't really correct, my true name was Alain not Alumni. However that was merely a technicality besides Alumni sounded cooler, _hey wait a minute_, I thought, _my memories aren't so scrambled anymore; still don't remember much else though.  
_For some odd reason my mind kept hearing the theme song for Mortal Kombat the movie, _what's a movie?_ But that was probably due to the intense sharp stabbing pains rushing over my head, my brain was grasping at anything it could to keep from losing consciousness again. I had to wake up, had to join the conversation clear things up if I could, but oh the blissful ease; the absence of pain unconsciousness would grant me, would that I could shed the trappings of my mortal flesh. Take such a boon as was being offered me and forget this pain, but no I had to get up, I might perish if I did not.

"MORTAL KOMBAT!" I cried leaping to my feet surprisingly swiftly for a man who had just been through what I had been through. The sharp stab of the broken ribs brought me collapsing back down to the ground though.

"What?" A voice inquired.

"Wow." A second voice blurted. "I've never seen anyone survive that before."

"Let him speak Joxer." Xena chastised regarding me with some concern and handing me my lost glasses, I placed them back on my head and the world swam into focus.

"Sorry my mind was stuck on those words for some reason." I explained gently massaging my head in an attempt to ease the pain. "What in Tartarus hit me?" I murmured.

"Hercules' fist, a very solidly built wall and a wooden fruit stand." Xena replied off-handedly.

"It figures, punch first ask questions later that's one of the problems with the gifted." I muttered sarcastically continuing to rub my head.

"Here let me." Gabrielle offered taking a seat behind me and gently rubbing her hands over my head, my eyes closed involuntarily for a moment a low moan escaped my lips.

"You better pay me for that fruit stand." A rather flamboyantly dressed obese man with a beard and mustache stated in a business like tone; somehow he didn't seem out of place in all of this.

"Sure let me just get my bank to call you up." I quipped allowing the smooth, though calloused touch of the bard to gently soothe my internal pains.

"He's crazy." The man observed crossing his arms in front of his chest and waving his left hand slightly flustered before rubbing his forehead. "Oh I feel a headache coming on." He added.

"I'd have to agree with you there Salmoneous." Xena remarked with a wry chuckle. "Our new traveling companion has lost his mind."

"Uh, sorry about that." Hercules began. "I usually don't jump to conclusions so fast, Hera must have gotten to me more than I'd realized." He apologized.

"Think nothing of it, flying through walls isn't as painful as I'd thought." I dismissed waving my hand good naturedly. "It's much worse." I added as though in afterthought trying to make light of a serious situation. "But as they say if you can't find humor in life, you're going to have a really dull life…or something like that my brain can't be very philosophical right now." I amended still enjoying Gabrielles' touch.

"He could have internal bleeding." Iolaus remarked.

"Yes well; if we can pry him out of the hands of my bard for just a few minutes, we might be able to determine if he is or not." Xena stated looking disapprovingly at the both of us.

"What? Oh sorry." Gabrielle stated quickly releasing me and pushing back up to her feet.

"A pity that felt good." I complimented smiling up at Gabrielle.

"He definitely has to be nuts." Salmoneous remarked coming into my line of sight yet again.

"No I think he just has a concussion." Xena corrected reaching out for my hand. I smiled as I grabbed it and was yanked back up to my feet, but screamed as a sudden renewed throbbing bombarded my mind and I grabbed my head trying to keep the insides' inside.

"Gods that hurts." I moaned. "I need about fifty milligrams of aspirin or something."

"What's aspirin?" Iolaus wondered.

"Never mind, ramblings and all that." I replied taking a step and nearly falling back down to the ground. Xena reached out to steady me eliciting another grateful smile. "Time to fix this little bump to the noggin!" I cried through the pain.

"I don't think you're quite ready to be jumping around." Xena remarked hiding a little knowing smile. "Lets' get you looked at… Now this might hurt." She cautioned before swiftly performing one of her nerve pinches on me, I gasped in surprise and sudden pain before rubbing my head and smiled.

"Hey that feels much better." I exclaimed wincing as renewed pain flashed though my ribs. "Anything you can do for some broken ribs?" I wondered not daring to move.

"You'll have to stay off your feet for a few days, drink plenty of water and we'll have to keep your ribs held together somehow while they heal." Xena ordered eliciting a sour look from me.

"I hate water, never could stand the taste for some reason." I remarked.

"You'll drink it or you won't recuperate." Xena chastised.

"All right, all right, but while I'm doing this you think Salmoneous can find me some new clothes?" I wondered indicating the now torn and tattered robes I'd been wearing. "I mean that is one of the reasons we came here in the first place." I reminded with a chuckle. "Flying through walls was optional."

"Well I'm not sure what I can do for you… But I'll see what I can dig up." Salmoneous stated before heading off. "Come on you." He added grabbing Joxer by the shoulder. "I'll need someone to help."

"Hey, no, wait…" Joxer began even as the two disappeared from sight.

"That's encouraging." I muttered under my breath. "I guess we'll need a room in the local inn or something." I added loud enough to be heard.

"Not too many free rooms around here." Gabrielle remarked. "However I think I can find something."

"So I guess this means we can go deal with that giant now." Iolaus commented.

"No, I'm going to deal with him; you stay here until I get back." Hercules corrected.

"But, Herc." Iolaus protested looking a little hurt.

"No Iolaus, I want you to keep a close eye on Alumni here, I've still got some questions I need to ask him and we have to sort out this mess." He added. "I'll be back in a few days." He guessed heading down the road.

"Well I guess we're going to be staying here a while then." Iolaus remarked before turning to offer me a hand. "Until Salmoneous gets back I'll give you one of

Hercules' spare outfits, it should definitely fit you considering how short you are." He explained leading me off to their accommodations at the local inn. Gabrielle made to follow thinking she should start haggling for rooms, but Xena grabbed her shoulder and held her back.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I'm not sure; do you remember that cloaked man, the one that was watching us while we talked with Iolaus?" Xena wondered.

"Come to think of it; yeah I do recall seeing someone, dark blue almost black cloak not a very big drinker." Gabrielle offered.

"That's him, I want to find him I think I know who it is; and we should have a serious talk with him too. His, talents, might just come in handy." Xena explained.

"Ok, so did you want my help?" Gabrielle wondered.

"No, I just wanted you to stay away from Alumni for a few hours." Xena corrected.

"What, why?" She demanded with a semi-pout.

"Don't think I didn't see how you were looking at him, honestly Gabrielle this man has a strong spirit he won't accept your pity, and he might hurt you involuntarily if something were to spring up." Xena whispered, Gabrielle huffed at her and placed her hands on her hips taking on an almost comical appearance.

"You don't know me as well as you thought; I do not for one second harbor any feelings for that man." She snapped.

"Perhaps not now, but it could evolve into that later on; and he might not be traveling with us all the time after we teach him how to work a sword." Xena chastised. "Who knows what his future will hold, he's a stranger to our land. And besides we can't know how he'll react once he can defend himself." She added growing slightly more protective of her friend.

"We'll deal with that when it happens for right now I have a room to locate." Gabrielle whispered before whirling on her heels and storming off. Xena sighed, that did not go as well as she'd hoped.

To Be Concluded;** And yes; I'm afraid the conclusion chapter might be sub-par, but then again once we get into Chapter Two you're gonna be blown away, because it has Callisto!**


	8. Chapter 8 AntiClimaxes Suck

**Author's Notes: I must apologize for the shortness of this story; not to mention the fact that we're ending it on a rather, sudden note if I do say so myself. But alas; when originally written I did believe it would turn out longer, however there was only so much I was willing to put into this first part. And as I've said before I went straight to typing this story up instead of writing it on paper, as I do all my other works; therefore it is shorter and perhaps a tad simpler by comparison to part two. (Once you see it you'll most likely understand.)  
I trust however it has still been enjoyable and I eagerly look forward to hearing your thoughts and oppinions on this finished work; on a related note, for those who will be following the grand epic of Chrysalis throughout beginning to end, I have some good news. Instead of waiting who knows how long; I've gotten access to the rest of the box sets from Star Voyager, thanks to my Uncle and thus I have been working around the clock to ensure that the rough drafts are fully In Continuity. My stickler for which has never diminshied. Once I've finished posting the Xenaverse epics I should have the Star Trek tales on stand by awaiting proper posting.**

**And so without further ado I place my usual disclaimer; implore you readers to R&R and post this final, somewhat anti-climatic chapter onto Of Gods and Women, Part One and leave you to resume my duties aboard Voyager. (Laughs at his own joke.)**

I looked at myself in the odd outfit; Iolaus was having a hard time stifling his laughter, even though I was still slightly fatter than Hercules because I was so much shorter the spare outfit he'd given me hung off my frame. The more solidly built footwear Iolaus had bought on the way over was a nice change however and it should last a lot longer than my bare feet would.

"So you really arrive from some other reality?" He wondered for the umpteenth time.

"Yes Iolaus I did, see for yourself." I added switching over to my own native language; Iolaus regarded me with newfound respect. It would take a strong willed individual to adapt to the sudden change of everything he knew. He doubted he would be so quick to adapt if he were dragged off into some other reality, still you could never tell until it happened to you.

"So what now?" I wondered lowering myself to the bed.

"Well I think I should do something about those ribs, don't you?" Iolaus inquired.

"Oh right, I'd nearly forgotten about them even through the mind numbing pain." I quipped pulling the top off so that Iolaus could begin to wrap some gauze or something around me.

Ares snarled as he returned to his place on mount Olympus, his mothers' attempt at finding amusement with this freakish individual had lead to a gathering of the heroes, so to speak. Now Alumni was protected and already he was beginning to acquire the necessary skills to develop into a very dangerous warrior indeed.

"Relax my son this one shall not live much longer." Hera soothed appearing before him in person for a change.

"We kill him and his master will destroy us, besides we do not understand the nature of this one yet." Ares retorted glaring down at the mortal world in disgust.

"That does not mean we can't push him to some foolish, rash act that would lead to his own demise." Hera remarked callously. "This master would never know if we ensured secrecy."

"I like how you think mother, but I will not risk it just yet. Better to study the enemy you don't know before challenging him." Ares stated sagely.

"What ever you wish, I shall leave him in your capable hands then." Hera stated vanishing as swiftly as she'd arrived.

"And I have just the means of testing him, if I'm not mistaken there is a little problem brewing among the Amazons of late." Ares muttered as a dark smile crossed his lips. "I wonder how our dear friend Alumni will be able to handle things." He mused before bursting into a sinister chuckle.

Zeus turned to Athena as she entered his presence; she had been closely watching Ares, in secret of course and he was having a hard time keeping the secrets of the young travelers' existence from the other Gods. However it was necessary if he ever wanted this man to become a warrior of some respect; Earth Prime needed its champion to be fully capable, therefore he had decided to allow Ares and Hera to play their little games for now, but he would inform them as to the truth in due course.  
First however he needed to change one glaringly obvious deficiency that this young man possessed; it would hinder his growth and ensure that his training in the combative arts would be slow and painful.

"Dear Athena I know of your growing interest in the human from beyond this reality." He stated; Athena made as if to deny it, but Zeus cut her off with a large smile. "It is ok daughter; I do not intend to punish you for such thoughts pertaining to a mortal, I myself am well known for my… Interest in mortal women after all." He reminded with a genuine smile of mischief; Athena openly blushed, something she was not known for in front of anyone, let alone her father. Gods just didn't get embarrassed; and yet Zeus some how managed to bring out the better qualities in his children, those shared by mankind, their humbling qualities.

"Father; why did you summon me then?" She wondered curiously; for it was rare to be called into Zeus' personal chambers, rarer still to do so and not be punished.

"I require your services dear daughter; the young man requires some divine intervention; so to speak. You will go to him and give him the gift of perfect sight; his glasses hinder his training and his visual imparity is ill befitting one of his true stature." Zeus informed bringing emphasis to his words; Athena smiled, her father knew everything there was to know about this man. Interesting; and if it was what he wanted, then who was she to deny her father.

"Very well father; I shall do so immediately." She stated preparing to leave; Zeus held up a hand.

"Not just yet; Ares scrutiny on this one is too intense, if he were to discover your interjection on my behalf it could lead to further complications with Hera." He muttered bitterly. "You shall have to wait a few days; perhaps weeks, until Ares has developed interests in another… I shall see to certain developments in private to help take his mind off of this mortal, Hercules may prove useful in disrupting my sons interest." He mused more to himself then to Athena; Athena smiled and eyed the young man hungrily as he rested after sustaining his injury, oh yes soon she would get to meet this young traveler and perhaps become privy to his secrets… And wouldn't that just rub Hera the wrong way; Athena grinned slightly wickedly at the thought and took her leave, Zeus sighed, sometimes it was so hard to manipulate events. Especially when it involved his own family, but he had succeeded; and now he could just sit back and watch, waiting until the moment was just right to spring the truth upon his family.

"You were wise to keep this secret from them Zeus." A slight feminine voice whispered in his ear; he cringed slightly at her voice, contact with other Gods from other realities always felt like a personal violation.

"What if this training of his fails? You have no chance at procuring a replacement this late in the game." He pointed out.

"That is for me to concern myself with; and yet." She paused and her voice indicated that she was smiling. "I expect great things of this one, he is unlike the others of his kind; and he is more then up to any challenge." She stated thoughtfully and yet knowingly both at the same time; her presence vanished and Zeus shook his head with a small smile, she should know better then to overestimate his chances, he was only mortal after all.

To Be Continued;** In the next exciting adventure; Of Gods and Women, Part Two. Coming to in April, or perhaps sooner if I get more reviews. (Hint, hint.)**


	9. Chapter 9 Comprehensive Timeline

**Chrysalis Timeline**

**Earth 929 Year 1992 April 13TH;** Alain Desrochers dates Jennifer McMahon for the first time, Unicron secretly employs an agent of Cobra-La to leave the book detailing Shadow Magic in Jennifers' school locker setting events in motion to ensure the arrival of Earth Primes' Alain Desrochers in the year 2003. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 1._

**Earth 929 Year 1994 May 27TH; **Jerrica Benton, the Holograms, their Associates, The Misfits and their Associates are mistakenly removed from Earth 929 by Saturnyne the Omniversal Majestrix due to outside interference from Merlyn. Roma chooses to use them for their mission to Earth 1302 in place of the Earth 656 counterparts intended to be used thus granting the assembled cast knowledge of the Omniverse for their future friendships surrounding a young man they currently have no knowledge on.  
Roughly five months later possibly; Unicron ensures that Kang the Conqueror will mistakenly apprehend all those living in Starlight Mansion thus ensuring that the Starlight Girls will also be aware of the Omniverse, the reason for this is still uncertain, but Primus has speculated that the Dark God wished to manipulate Alain's future ties with the Starlight Girls to unspecific ends. _Source Flashback: Crisis on Earth 929 Final Chaos and Unwritten Prelude to Crisis: Kang & The Starlight Girls._

**Earth Prime Year 1995 September 6TH; **Reanne McMahon previous Chosen of God loses the full power of her bloodline and begins to pay great attention to her daughters' boyfriends seeking the next Chosen. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Earth 929 Year 1997 August 10TH; **Jennifer and Alain finally become Talia and Darkholme beginning the process of harvesting Chaos energies in small amounts so as not to be noticed by Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, several classmates of the duo most notably Christine Delisle, Candace Berard, Pamela Noel and Nicole Desroches (No relation) disappear. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 2._

**Starlight Citadel Timeline Uncertain; **Roma at last discerns the presence of total Chaos brewing on Earth 929 and sends Spider-Girl of Earth 107 to ferret out the source of the growing Chaotic forces threatening to destabilize the Omniversal balance. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 2 and 3._

**Earth Prime Year 2000 June 20TH; **Alain Desrochers Graduates High School and is faced with a lonely future as he knows nothing of what is expected of him, Reanne begins to despair as the Demons collect more souls to break the Gates of Hell open wide. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Earth 929 Year 2002 July 4TH; **Spider-Girl is enslaved by Shadow King under orders of Darkholme, Wheeljack begins plans to build the Infinity Engine, unseen by all Unicron is pleased at the progress of his pawns. Talia briefly faces the Ghost Rider revealing her presence and her plans indirectly to Mephistopheles, Blade the Vampire Hunter encounters Darkholme during a raid on a nest, and a Pocket Dimension is accidentally destroyed resulting in the unleashing of the Shadow Warg from their long ago banishment, Talia begins to tame them as pets. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 4 and 5 and 6._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 13TH Give or Take; **Alain telephones Jennifer; God ensures the call will be disappointing; the Omniverse becomes common knowledge to Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Starlight Citadel Timeline Uncertain; **Roma enlists the aid of Arachnia AKA Gwen Stacy from Earth 3062; the choice of heroes reflecting ties to Spider-Man is due to manipulations in the Starlight Citadels' systems by Merlyn, Roma's father. Reasons unknown. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue 6 Epilogue._

**Earth Designation Unrevealed Timeline Unspecified; **Alain Desrochers encounters Xena forcibly, God causes amnesia to ensure her champion shall take his training seriously, Unicron begins actively observing events from afar as his manipulations begin to take hold of the human.  
Taking the name Alumni; Alain journeys with the Warrior Princess and the Battling Bard and begins learning the proper use of the sword, he begins to bulk up and tone his body eliminating the fat. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 January 3RD; **Arachnia is captured by Talia and Darkholme becoming a sexual plaything for the duo replacing the most likely deceased former missing classmates; Wheeljack perfects the Infinity Engine and begins testing, Time Travelers from a future date and time inadvertently arrive in undocumented encounter between the Fantastic Four and a team claiming to be Salvation, they are led by a woman of unspecified origins and trick Johnny Storm Alias The Human Torch into returning with them to the future. _Source: Unwritten Salvation Issue Numbers Unknown; The Human Torch Saga and Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 7._

**Abbreviation Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Ares and Hera take a vested interest in Alumni; Ares uses a special poison to make communication possible, due to fragmented memories Alumni continues to train uncertain of his origins, but needing the skills to survive Hera convinces Hercules that Alumni is a dangerous threat; other players also become involved as the Heroes are gathered to protect the young man and facilitate his training all engineered by Zeus of course. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Coruscant 177 Roughly 15 000 Years before the Foundation of the First Galactic Republic; **Jedi Knight Sarill Contrelle journeying to the planet Mustafar as part of her Jedi Trials is reborn upon ascending to the rank of Jedi Master, an unknown female party giving the name Quinlee is responsible for her newfound immortality, the Force reveals all to Master Sarill. _Source: Unwritten Star Wars Tales of the Jedi Order Story._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 February 23RD; **Techrat is approached by Predacon warrior Waspinator in disguise; Darkholme begins capturing his villainous pawns in preparation of the big push, Mephistopheles appears to the current Ghost Rider warning of dire portent and enlists his services to claim the Eye of Agamotto, the attempt fails though it does force Stephen Strange off of Earth 929 for the remainder of the year leaving a doppelganger under the control of Mephistopheles in his place. _Source: Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Ghost Rider Prelude to Crisis and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Chronicles of Waspinator the Twenty-First Century._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni spends time in Athens undergoing intense physical training; Autolycus gets him in trouble with a tribe of Centaurs, but Xena manages to get him out. Unicron is well pleased at the progress of Alumni; fully aware what is to come he begins preparations to start the human on his path to the second unseen Destiny linking Alain to Cybertron forevermore, Past, Present and Future. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue Number 0 Alumni & Autolycus Vs. The Centaurs._

**Coruscant 177 18 Years before Star Wars The Phantom Menace; **Master Contrelle emerges from the planet Mustafar and engages battle with a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Sidious on the planet of Naboo, her attempt to prevent the fall of the Jedi Order fails, she flees into hiding and awaits the time of the Clone Wars vanishing seemingly from existence on the planet Dagobah. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue Number 1 Jedi Vs. Sith._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni journeys with Xena and experiences numerous adventures alongside his two mentors; during the Hind incident Alumni and Velasca are both kidnapped by Tarantulas acting under orders from Unicron, Unicron implants the spark that will become Tarantulas 929 within the flesh body of Alumni, forcibly usurping the young mans' true destiny and sub-planting it with that of a more favorable and necessary fate. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part Two and Prologue to Twisted._

**Faerûn 09 Timeline Uncertain; **Alumni, Velasca and a misplaced Kender spirit by the name of Tasslehoff Burrfoot fail in their quest to lay claim to the Dark Matrix from Cybertron 118 from the hands of the Drow of Menzoberranzan. Alumni's altered personality is forgotten and he is returned to Xena's Earth dismissing his stray memories as a trick of the Gods; within the spark of Tarantulas 929 begins to plot recapturing the flesh form of Alumni to continue his service to a being he has forgotten, obviously Unicron. _Source: Twisted._

**Earth Prime Hell Dimension; **Lucifer begins to prepare the power to breach Hells' Gates and conquer humanity along with the Earth; Time on Earth is no longer in motion however Time in Hell continues to beat faster towards the fated release of all Demonkin, The Secretary chooses to leave these scenes of darkness unseen to those regarding the chronicled history of Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers of Earth Prime. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni travels with Xena further the Ambrosia stolen from Callisto still hidden; he encounters Diana the Pagan Goddess and faces a tribe of Uruk-Hai; led by Damocles, the origins of the Uruk are unknown, Alain becomes Justice for the first time. Suffering a mortal wound he ingests the Ambrosia; the cultivating Spark of Tarantulas 929 uses this chance to resume control of the body assuming Godhood and proclaiming himself God of Chaos, due to fragmented memories Alumni does not recall anything of his mission to Faerûn. Instead he proceeds to wipe out whole villages of innocent souls while Xena, Gabrielle, Iolaus, Hercules and Joxer meet Toley one of Gods special guides; believing Alain's soul to have fragmented into two separate souls due to his amnesia and the fact that Unicron has hidden his machinations thoroughly from the eyes of God and Primus Toley sends his friends into his astral plane to save Alumni/Alain from death.  
In the end Tarantulas 929 is forcibly rejected from Alain's body taking on briefly a corporeal flesh form that is swiftly terminated by Toley's mate; thus Alain is saved and begins to learn more about his First Destiny. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part Two and Xena Warrior Princess & Hercules The Legendary Journeys; God of Chaos._

**Earth 929 Timeframe Unclear; **Unicron reclaims the spark that was Alumni who still has no recollection of the events surrounding its' origins; in fact it still believes itself to be a mortal soul and possesses a human appearance. Agreeing to Unicrons' false assurances Alumni the Spark is reformatted completely and finally turned into the Cybertronian Life Form destined to be; Tarantulas 929, though Tarantulas's memories have been altered so that all vestiges of his past life as a human are erased he completely understands that he has Unique Origins from those of Cybertronian Descent. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess & Hercules The Legendary Journeys; God of Chaos Epilogue._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Possibly 49504.3; **Having completed his training on Xena's Earth Alain is sent to the 24TH century and Q; first he must understand the nuances of the technology and survive the harsh wilds of the Delta Quadrant aboard the Starship Voyager, friendships are forged with Megan and Jenny Delaney and Ensign Samantha Wildman. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve; A New Frontier._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 March 15TH; **Darkholme and Talia continue unseen manipulations; Wheeljack and Optimus Prime place the Infinity Engine under SHIELD protection in secret and use deception and subterfuge to prevent the Decepticons from initially discovering the engines' absence, Cobra forces resurrect Serpentor from his death-like stasis and events begin to interconnect due to the presence of the Chaos Bringer. The Power Infinity Gem becomes the property of Reed Richards for a brief time, with it he discovers the Autobots' Infinity Engine has ties to the Infinity Gems though neither seems logically possible considering the origins of the Gems and Engine. _Source: The Transformers Issue Number 85 To Harness Infinity and Crisis on Earth 929 Reed Richards; Prelude to War._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate 50384.2; **Alain meets Q for the first time; he begins to find his place on Voyager, Q takes on a new identity as Hunis the Trickster and creates the belief in the Draconian race that Al is Sithicus the Destroyer. The Borg become aware of Al's presence on Voyager during the Species 8472 incident and begin preparations for assimilation. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve; A New Frontier and Possibly Star Trek Voyager; Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates._

**Coruscant 177 Approximately 13-15 Years After Events of A New Hope; **Sensing the arrival of Alain is imminent Master Contrelle leaves Mustafar and Discovers Callista on the planet Naboo where she battled Sidious all those long years ago, she begins to re-open the woman fully in the Force. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue 2 Tales of the Jedi._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Approximately 51268.4; **The Borg capture Alain and forcibly assimilate him, the process goes awry through unseen developments; some such as Alain himself believe that Q influenced the Assimilation process and as usual the Omnipotent One decides not to correct that assumption taking perverse pleasure in the blame. In truth; due to the fact that the Spider Drone Tarantulas forcibly inserted into Alain back during the whole Twisted affair the Nanoprobes themselves become conflicted as two separate and alien sets of programming intersect and combine on a sub-molecular level re-writing the young human as Unicron intended into a Technorganic Life Form of unique abilities though still possessing the characteristics of the Borg and not the Cybertronians.  
After escaping Alain and the Voyager crew must come to grips with what has happened to him; life becomes further complicated when the Draconians arrive forcing Al to act and tap once again into the powers of Justice reawakening his memories of said power.  
**Stardate 52081.2; **Q frees Omnibus, Callopias and Serenity from incarceration; his Padawan will soon encounter a real Demon and begin to put the pieces of the puzzle that is his life together. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates._ **Author's Notes: So as not to confuse you I will pause here to explain further the entire Assimilation Process I have recently re-created and re-envisioned to further draw ties between Alain and Cybertron. As you have already read Alain as Alumni encountered the Tarantulas of a different reality in Twisted and in order for Alumni to control Velasca this Tarantulas placed a Spider Drone within both of them. At the end of said story Velasca puked up the Spider Drone in a liquid state as she was forcibly bound to the Kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot, but the fate of Alain's Spider Drone was never revealed… This got the Wheels in my head to turning; at one point I had decided that Q really had mucked around with the Assimilation creating the other powers and as you can see whenever we bring that up in the main body of work Q and even his son q constantly play up this fact though in truth Q being a well known master of lies never actually did anything except to awaken the latent Mutant Gene in Alain a dormant Gene that all Earth Prime residents possess unknowingly.  
****The other power, powers I should say; originate from the Assimilation of the Spider Drone; Alain's ability to manipulate and created hard light holograms for brief moments in time is a remnant of the Spider Drones' own onboard holographic communications system, the ability to harness Gravity and to a lesser though extremely finite extent the Magnetic Spectrum is a remnant of the Spider Drones' repulsor field generator, which allows certain advanced Spider Drones the ability to levitate and fly defying gravity as it were, as well as the Spider Drone's magnetic grapplers, which Tarantulas has used in the past and is my interpretation of the little claw-like appendages sometimes seen in the Beast Wars cartoon, I mean they can pick up the pieces of Tarantulas when he gets' blown to smithereens, but some of those pieces looked a little awkward and even impossible to grasp, so I figured the claws must have added magnetic grapplers to facilitate picking up awkward, larger or even smaller pieces. This also explains why Alain's and Amy's Nanoprobes resemble eight-legged arachnids and possess a sort of semi-consciousness of their own at times; since the Spider Drones are Tarantulas' version of Smart Tools or AI units, which assist him in his laboratory experiments and the like it would make sense that at times they would assume control of certain bodily functions for unspecified purposes caused perhaps by mutated or aberrant behavioral programming as a result of the assimilation. The reason why I explain this all to you here dear reader is to facilitate the explanation and also I have no intention of revealing this truth to the characters in the story in any way shape or form; it's the Author's decision after all, so my original intentions now have an underlining perhaps sinister origin concerning the abilities of Technorganic Borg and also ties Alain to Cybertron just that little bit more… Now back to the matter at hand.**

**Earth 929 Year 2003 May 27TH; **Darkholme celebrates his twenty-first birthday and enjoys the fruits of his labors, namely Jennifer and Gwen; Cobra sets in motion project B.A.T Upgrade and sets their sights on acquiring the SHIELD Helicarrier. On Cybertron the war escalates as both Autobot and Decepticon begin deep space exploration for both Energon sources to replenish depleted supplies and lost colonies hoping to bolster their ranks with Cybertronians who had grown tired with the war and left, but are now desperately needed. Ultra Magnus makes contact with the Junkions of planet Junk and discovers faint traces of Cybertronian signatures from distant planet Nebulos; the Silver Surfer returns to being Galactus' Herald when Nova (**Frankie Raye**) is incarcerated on the Shi'ar home world for aiding Thanos in slaughtering eighty billion Kree survivors.  
Unicron begins preparations for the creation of Cyclonus and Scourge; it is also theorized that at this time the Universe Conflict of Cybertron 1300 was first conceived and possibly executed. Johnny Storm; missing for Five months in the Future, or a possible Future Timeline is at last returned by a mysterious young teenager with feline inspired characteristics, he says nothing of what he saw or did or even why he was gone so long. _Source: Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Cobra; Prelude to Crisis and The Transformers Issue Number 89-90 Plight of the Junkions and The Silver Surfer Issues Numbered Undecided; Heralds of Galactus and Crisis on Earth 929 Johnny Storm; Prelude to Crisis._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate 52143.6; **Alain discovers both Serenity and Callopias roughly around this time, Serenity the Goddess attempts to seduce him, Callopias the Demon grows eager to kill him and events rapidly spiral out of control including an incident on the Holodeck until roughly Stardate 53049.2 when Al slays Callopias in combat and begins a torrid affair with Serenity. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Forbidden Fruit._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 June 10TH; **Chaos has clouded Earth 929 from Roma's sight almost completely; aware she requires a new champion to prevent its' destruction she begins scouring the Omniverse for the perfect hero, preferably a Counterpart to Alain Desrochers 929. Meanwhile Talia at last is fully eclipsed by Unicrons' influence as he takes a personal hand in the events he is manipulating and Megatron finally deduces that Prime has hidden the Infinity Engine amongst the humans of SHIELD. In the small kingdom of Wakanda home to Africa's premier super hero the Black Panther Waspinator, the Predacon from a future time joins forces with T-Challa, Ghost Rider and a repentant Juggernaut to prevent T-Challa's enemies from unearthing remains of the Maximal Transwarp Exploration Craft Axalon and using them against the African heroes kingdom; time seems almost to stand still as though awaiting the coming of Alain Prime. _Source: Unwritten The Transformers Issues Numbered 92-94 (Possibly) Infinity is a Long Time Coming and Chronicles of Waspinator; Waspinator & The Secret Defenders._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Unknown; **After several months possibly a year of recuperation following the battle with Callopias, Alain Desrochers meets Amy and winds up adopting her via assimilation to save her life; Amy Chelerise Desrochers changes Al's entire outlook on life. Revealing his secretly crafted Holo-Cons; sentient holographic Decepticons, Al and Voyager repel attacks by the Borg and experience a great many adventures.

**Stardate Approximately 54274.7; **Al is visited by Warren Meers of Earth Hellmouth 400 reminding him that the events of Shattered is rapidly approaching; Al takes Amy to Eternia and is in turn adopted by her family, it is believed by Historians of Al and those around him that Serenity was impregnated close to this Stardate as well. Once returned to Voyager events continue on until fated Stardate 549703.4 when Admiral Janeway of one possible future arrives and leads her younger self into the destined event resulting in Voyager at last coming home to the Alpha Quadrant. Transporting over to the Enterprise Alain gets' his house in order and faces Omnibus at last; the Demon Overlord almost kills him, but he succeeds in destroying the Demons' physical form. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; War Against the Collective and Star Trek The Next Generation; Home and Heartache._

**Starlight Citadel Time Unspecified; **Roma recruits Alain to aid in ending the Crisis on Earth 929; none of the players are ever told how long this Chaotic anomaly has been growing, Al devastated at being torn away from Amy agrees only after Roma promises to reunite them. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929; Of Spiders and Mutants._

**Omniversal Passageway Unknown Moment in Time; **Unicron prevents Omnibus' spiritual essence from following Al to enact revenge, the non-corporeal Demon Overlord begins his search for a realm capable of restoring his physical form and seems to be almost forgotten by the players involved. _Source: Star Trek The Next Generation; Home and Heartache Epilogue._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 June 23RD possibly July 5TH; **Al arrives on Earth 929 in Central Park Early Morning; he encounters Spider-Man in brief after tangling with Electro, and then is inadvertently assaulted by Professor Charles Xavier founder of the X-Men mistaken for Magneto. Under the assumed name Allan Pendragon Rutherford our intrepid hero begins his mission with the X-Men; a guest in their mansion, he is targeted by the Brotherhood under Darkholmes' control, rescues Spider-Girl by killing Shadow King, meets with Spider-Man again to help Spider-Girl, briefly encounters Lawyer Matt Murdoch and is stopped by the Brotherhood a second time along with Curt Connors AKA The Lizard before he can meet Doctor Strange. All on Earth 929 remain unaware that the current Doctor Strange is a facsimile and the real Stephen Strange is currently trapped in the Dark Dimension battling minions of Dormammu. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929 Of Spiders' and Mutants and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Doctor Strange Title Undecided._

**Coruscant 177 25-30 Years After A New Hope; **Master Contrelle and Callista rescue Lusa from a Vornskyr attack as the Yuuzhan Vong invasion grows into a truly epic development, Chewbacca and Anakin Solo lose their lives during the mounting war. _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order series of Novels/E-Novels and Tales of Suspense Issue Number 3 Vornskyr Attack._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 Exact Date Undetermined; **Alain is targeted by the Red Skull and an army of B.A.Ts' stolen from Cobra under the influence of Darkholme; the X-Men, Avengers and others put a stop to the attack on Manhattan and Westchester, Al kills the Red Skull be beheading him with his Lightsaber. Invited to an evening affair by Tony Stark Al and Rogue begin to slowly discover their mutual attraction for one another is more then just hormones, Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn and Peter Parker are notable characters of Earth 929 also present at the unveiling.  
Venom and Carnage both attack due to Darkholme once again influencing events; Al, Spider-Man and Iron-Man fend them off, days later a team of X-Men, Spider-Man and Spider-Girl face them on the Brooklyn Bridge. Venom flees after Cletus Kasady is killed and the Carnage symbiote captured, Cobra owes Al a debt due to events surrounding Red Skull; Al enlists their aid at this point in time in finding answers to this entire mess.  
Eric Raymond sells out Gabor Oil to the Decepticons as Misfits' Music closes due to Bankruptcy; Al leaves New York and winds up in Los Angeles at Starlight Mansion, Jerrica and the others take him in, during his stay he meets Ricochet, Vixen and Synergy three Maximals from the Axalon as it turns out. Kills Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder with help from Cyclops and Jean, begins actively interacting with the Autobots, thwarts a kidnapping attempt, brokers deals with Cobra, the Autobots and Q, visits with Amy, helps young Nancy Cates deal with her mutation and takes the next step in his relationship with Rogue.  
Following major events surrounding Cobra, GIJoe the Transformers and their God Primus the Crisis of Earth 929 begins to reach the boiling point; Darkholme is ousted after pitting the Brotherhood against the Sinister Six; meanwhile Unicron and Tarantulas take the souls of the humans Cletus Kasady, Serpentor and the Red Skull AKA Johann Schmidt and once purging all traces of their past lives has been accomplished, Unicron uses said souls all of whom were directly or indirectly killed in their mortal life by Al to reformat and create the sparks of the Predacons Cicadacon, Seaclamp and Ramhorn; destined to become the Tripredacus Council and a future thorn in Rutherfords' side. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929: Avengers' Assemble and Crisis on Earth 929: Rampage in NYC and Crisis on Earth 929: Sea of Turmoil and Crisis on Earth 929: Terror Approaches and Crisis on Earth 929: More Than Meets the Eye._

**Earth X-1007 Circa 1942; **Warren Meers; having been forgotten by all journeys to this point in time of Earth X-1007 after engineering the deaths of numerous heroes including Superman and Batman, his goal is to enslave an army of heroines to conquer the Omniverse, but in truth Q is manipulating him to create a future team of Super Villains to face off against Alain and a future team of Super Heroes the young man will lead in service of Roma called Salvation, Warren's first target for slave training is Wonder Woman at a time when she is young and inexperienced… Harbinger; a new Demonic threat is also born due to Warren's incompetence and the beginnings of a truly dangerous team of adversaries is set in motion. _Source: Untitled Primarily Adult Story featuring Wonder Woman and Warren AKA Zeus._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 Month of August leading possibly into September; **Alain faces a plethora of events and villains as the Final Chaos draws nigh, The Sinister Six, Cobra, Darkholme, the Decepticons, the Green Goblin and others become embroiled in the massive up-surgence of mounting Chaos until at last, after killing his Earth 929 counterpart and facing down a Decepticon threat of spectacular origins Al engages in battle with Talia… Many casualties occur, but in the end Chaos is averted and the Infinity Engine destroyed; forced to leave Rogue and Amy behind Al moves on to conclude his training and hopefully return to Earth Prime at last.  
Other events entangled within this time include a brief encounter between Spider-Man, Spider-Girl and the Green Goblin, a battle with the Decepticons involving the Dinobots, and the mystical confrontation between Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Dormammu, Mephistopheles and the Doctor Strange Doppelganger all within the Dark Dimension. The Fantastic Four are also believed to have been taken out of the game due to a development in the Negative Zone, but remains unconfirmed. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929: Final Chaos and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Spider-Girl Laugh of the Goblin and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Doctor Strange Untitled Tale and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Coda._

**Coruscant 177 25-30 Years After A New Hope; **Al arrives on Mon Cal and briefly interacts with the Solos' and Skywalkers' before Master Contrelle, Callista and Lusa arrive to take him to Mustafar; whereupon he completes his training, masters Justice and… _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Perspective and Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Potential._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 13TH; **Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers returns home and begins remodeling his bedroom; Master Contrelle has accompanied him and the Force is no longer a part of her as she begins a new life on Earth Prime, in Hell Lucifer feels his presence, Jen and Christine talk briefly on the phone and Reanne prays for divine intervention. Meanwhile The Secretary has a special meeting with two individuals; Kal-El of a different Earth-Prime and Dawn Summers of Earth Hellmouth 75, the purpose of this meeting with Dawn Summers is never revealed. Other parties also briefly show interest in young Alain of Earth-Prime among them The Doctor, Daniel Jackson of SG-1 and Mxyzptlx. _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Potential and Interlude._

**Earth Hellmouth 36 Timeframe Uncertain; **Omnibus's spiritual essence escapes the Omniverse passageways and begins to amass mystical energy to return; Alain is sent to aid the Slayer in stopping Omnibus once and for all, events must happen quickly for Earth Prime is soon to be in dire need of Alain its' Chosen Champion. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Sithicus._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 14TH; **Jennifer converses with Christine her best friend because of the phone call to Alain; q bears witness to this moment and amuses himself with the thought of the two coming together at last. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Sithicus Interlude._

**Earth X-1007 Circa 2005;** Warren targets his next victims Kara Zor-El Alias Supergirl and Kara Zor-L Alias Power Girl to continue enslaving his army. _Source: Unwritten/Untitled Primary Adult Oriented Story Featuring Warren._

**Earth Hellmouth 36 Timeline Uncertain; **With Omnibus now destroyed completely and no longer a threat; Alain is approached by Whistler in order to assist the Powers that Be in restoring the Balance destroyed by Omnibus' unwitting presence on this version of Buffy's world. In order to accomplish this task; Alain must resurrect Tara McClay using Federation technology and drugs proven to work on others in the past and also recruit the long absent Scooby Oz the Reluctant Werewolf as it were to aid him in the city of Tokyo, Japan. It is revealed by the Sensei of the Light Dojo that ancient spirits once walked the Earth long ago; these spirits not destined to return until after the Slayer managed to defeat the First Evil and seal Sunnydale's Hellmouth manage to escape thanks to Omnibus and set into motion the rise once again of the Elementals.  
Al must convince a young Chinese girl by the name of Mei Lin that she is the Chosen One; destined to lead a team of four young women against the forces of the Spirits themselves, with the aid of Oz and Tara he must find a way to rewrite what Fate truly has in store for all. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances and Partially Buffy the Vampire Slayer Inherent Evil._

**Earth 929 Year 2004 April 28TH; **Amy Chelerise Rutherford holds a training session with Professor Charles Xavier in order to expand her telepathic skills. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances Interlude._

**Limbo Timeline Uncertain: Possible Future Events Revealed; **The Dark God Unicron holds a brief conference with Mega Zarak discussing events not yet part of the official Timeline; Mega Zarak informs his Master that Nemesis Prime has managed to procure the Dark Matrix on Eternia thanks to the unwitting assistance of young Alain Desrochers. Unicron leaves to harness the powers of Chaos being unleashed during the Autobot/Decepticon Conflict on Cybertron 5089 in order to restore his Planetary Body while trapped in a smaller form; The Universe Conflict is mentioned in brief, the reasons for this upset in the Timeline are uncertain, but information regarding the events surrounding Alain on Eternia and dealing with Nemesis Prime are most definitely intended to be a Future event as of yet Unchronicled by The Secretary. It is possible Uatu the Watcher parted the veils of Time and Space in order to gain further understanding on the Chaos Bringers interest in the Young Man from Earth Prime. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances Interlude._

**More as Follows I trust this has helped straighten out every aspect of the Chrysalis story featuring Alain Desrochers; Anything that is Unwritten will take some time for me to get around to if I write them myself I may enlist the aid of fellow Fanfic Authors who know characters like Ghost Rider, The Silver Surer and all that way better then me.**


End file.
